Kiel's East Coast *hehe*

Now that I learned that I do have a bicycle, Kerrin enforced its usage. It was quite surprising to realize how many tourists are flying around in this area in the end of August. The beaches were really crowded this weekend and it was kind of annoying – at least looking at the main beaches known to everybody. Nonetheless, beautiful day with beautiful weather with a perfect ice cream on our way back :-) 

But what is a cycling tour without gadgets? Yeah, needed to test some GPS trackers for iPhone and in the end used MotionX-GPS to record our route. Despite the irritating voice coming out of my backpack (because I did not find the option to turn off voice in beginning ;-)), this little app precisely recorded our route and was even polite enough to not suck out my iPhone’s battery.


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Oooh, I do have a bicycle

…and I was always wondering why this white thingie with two wheels was standing in the entrance to my flat. Always thought this must be kind of fancy accessoire. Ha, but yesterday I found out I can actually use this thingie called bicycle ;-) [map style="width: 600px; height:300px; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px; border: 1px solid #ccc;" maptype="ROADMAP" gpx="http://www.ohlmeyer.de/wp-content/uploads/20120812.gpx"]

Cycling the Cabot Trail

Juli and I made it and survived the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada :-). Wondering what this is? Well, Alexander Graham Bell described it perfectly:

“I have travelled the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all.”

The Cabot Trail

The Cabot Trail is a highway and scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in northern Victoria County and Inverness County on Cape Breton Island. The route measures 298 km in length and completes a loop around the northern tip of the island.

It is passing along and through the scenic Cape Breton Highlands: the northern section of the Cabot Trail passes through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the western and eastern sections follow the rugged coastline, providing spectacular views of the ocean and the southwestern section passes through the Margaree River valley before passing along Bras d'Or Lake.

Clockwise or counterclockwise? Counterclockwise!

Since neither Juli nor I have had any experience with cycling before, we split our tour into 5 days having a 6th day as a fallback. But even for me, as living mostly from coffee & cigarettes for years now :-(, 5 days worked out perfect  - and we still had lots of time to do stops in between, check some smaller hiking trails, do whale watching or simply enjoy the landscape (which you should really, really do).

If you are planning something similar, check Brian Hedney's page on "Cycling the Cabot Trail" which was of great help to us upfront! The following links consist of my mini diary, some GPS info (yes, I like my gadgets ;-)) plus pictures, pictures and even more pictures.

Last but not least: Some places special to us...

Although friendliness and feeling welcome was the main tenor for all places & people in Cape Breton, some places I will remember a tiny little bit more. Can't really say why, but here they are:

Restaurant "Flavor": Actually not on the Cabot Trail but in Sydney where I rented my bike for the tour. Gordon and Bev from the Colby House B&B recommended it and I can only agree: We had a very delicious dinner at the Flavor!

The Maven Gypsy B&B: This was our first evening out on the road after cycling 62km...so, we were not sure what we could expect. But Christine & Devin made our day! If you are ever around Wreck Cove make sure you stay (at least) a night  and enjoy their hospitality.

Restaurant "Rusty Anchor": Having left North Mountain behind us on Day 3, we arrived in Pleasant Bay and really needed dinner. Elizabeth, our host at The Poplar B&B, recommended it and we enjoyed a scenic sunset as well as fresh seafood in all kind of variations.

"The Red Shoe Pub": On our last day back to Antigonish we drove by Mabou late in the evening. Not only serving delicious food and good beer...Monday night also spontaneous fiddling by people from Mabou as we coincidently learned. If you go there, try Monday night!

Day 1 on Cabot Trail: Baddeck – Wreck Cove

61,54km distance, Altitude difference 101m, Duration 4:13h (incl. stops)

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First cycling day started out with a perfect breakfast at the Colby House B&B in Sydney. Yes, sounds weird, but I have never eaten rhubarb muffins before but they tasted like charm. So, after having fresh fruits, ham and eggs, Juli and I started off to Framework Cycle around 9:30 to get my bike for the tour.

Think they were really laughing at those German strangers that wanted to do the Cabot Trail without any real preparation. Best thing was their comment about me having at least the right bike now, but Juli "being dead" with her bike. That's a start ;-).

After putting both bikes on back of Juli's famous Pontiac, we drove back to Baddeck and arrived at the Visitors Information Centre around lunch time. Nice thing was that they have parking space on the back as well as public washrooms. So we changed clothes and finally started...

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englishtown ferry, arrived maven bb 1655, cool nice place, Maven gypsies bb, delicious dinner, aperitif, dinner, dessert...lived 5 years in Grenada, just opened, beautiful farm, smokey the Labrador, small cottage, so quiet, breakfast as delicious as dinner

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Day 3 on Cabot Trail: South Harbour – Pleasant Bay

xx,xxkm distance, Altitude difference 460m, Duration x:xxh (incl. stops)

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Just leave this place and get coffee in cape north, breakfast after first small climb, then north mountain ahead, 13%, 7km, 457m, last 1km really bad, pain, real pain,

then downhill almost 10km nice ride but now knowing what good brakes are for, beautiful, some hiking as break, finally in pleasant bay, went to whale interpretative center

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April moved to June, but still: Cabot Trail!

So, after Eyjafjallajökull decided to calm down and my boss accepting my shift of holiday to beginning of June, it will finally happen: Just received my tickets this weekend :-). But still no chance to get my biycle with me. Damn, these people of Lufthansa almost drove me crazy. Air Canada transfers bikes for 50$ in total but Lufthansa has an extra fee of 150€ per route (!)...although I booked via Air Canada flight, the first transfer will go from HAM to LHR via Lufthansa, and they force you to pay their extra fee at check-in.